ASTR230 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Marvin Jones ASTR230 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/19/2026	ASTR230 is NOT a class you want to take if you just need the gen-ed credit. There's a certain demographic of people that might like the class, and if after reading my cripes you like them, then surely take it. If you couldn't guess by my star rating, I unfortunately don't fit it. First of all, there are 3 discussions led by either Marvin or your TA, and a lecture by Marvin every week. Every class is mandatory, as there is an assignment you have to complete with your group every discussion, and with every lecture there is a quiz you have to do, each one worth 1% of your grade. So you can't skip unless you're cool with your grade tanking(though two discussion grades do get dropped). Maybe this is biased because I'm very much a night person, but the lectures at 9 am were a nightmare, and I don't think I could ever pay attention. He knew this, and so he did stuff to capture our attention that was annoying as hell. 9 in the morning and he'd make everyone do jumping jacks, clap our hands, say an alliteration, etc. I understand that he does this with good intention, but on many days it was literally hell to me. If the "fiction" part of the course sounds fu you, don't get excited. It's only about 10% of the class, but I genuinely dreaded it because of how insufferable of a lens we approached it through. He would put up movie clips, badass stuff like the moon crashing into the Earth or people driving through crashing buildings, but instead of it being cool for even 5 seconds, Marvin asked about what made things realistic versus not. And not to hate, but the type of people who answered and whose answers Marvin would praise... I wouldn't wish any of my enemies to watch a movie with them: "Well actually, if the moon were on a collision course with Earth, tidal forces would rip the crust apart long before impact" "The gravitational perturbations alone would destabilize Earth’s orbit and cause catastrophic mantle heating" "At that proximity the Roche limit would be exceeded and the moon would fragment before it ever hit” Stuff that's the literal definition of 🤓👆. Again, I don't mean to hate, these are obviously very smart observations with tons of prior knowledge brought into the course that I simply don't have. But when these are the people raising their hands, it doesn't really give me any desire to participate whatsoever. And no hate to my TA, they were definitely very knowledgable and put a lot of work in, but their voice was low and they often struggled to get everybody's attention after group conversations to continue presenting, especially when Marvin wasn't there as well. Course material and time commitment aside... it's a pretty hard-to-get A. The 4 tests were all abysmal: averages all in the 70s. Not just because the tests were hard, but also because the grading was very odd. There were questions that asked for multiple things at once, and missing one part could cost you the entire question, even if it was worth around 10% of the exam. The same thing happened with math: even if you got the correct numerical answer, you could still lose points for not showing the exact sequence of steps he wanted. For example, writing “70% of the radius” wasn’t enough; you were expected to explicitly write 7π/10π, show the π canceling, and then convert it to 70%, and skipping any of that cost you the entire question(10%!!!) even though the math was identical. There'll also be questions that ask something specific, but you can still lose points even if u answer the specific question because he arbitrarily wanted you to mention something else in the period that was very important. To be fair, I think he and the TAs became better about giving partial credit as the semester went on. The fourth (and easiest) exam, whichmany people skipped because your lowest exam score gets dropped (that’s actually a nice perk), was mostly memorization, and on that exam, they gave full credit for responses that earlier in the semester almost definitely would’ve been nitpicked. Totally random nitpick I have is that he ruined one of my favorite songs. He played the same jazz Youtube video every time we took our 9 am exam, and exactly at the point of the test where I'm screwed and start counting what percent I know I got right, there would be this jazz rendition of Diamonds by Rihanna. I'll never listen to the song the same again. The final project was probably the most fun thing in the class as you were allowed to be creative, make your own story of a journey to a galaxy, making up aliens and planets along the way and presenting it to the class. The only thing I didn't like about it was how you were allowed to be as fun as you wanted in the research paper, but in the presentation you were supposed to be deadpan serious about all the creative things you made. I actually heard one of the TAs saying the part they didn't like about our presentation was how it tried to be punny. Overall, this really isn't a class you want to take if you aren't the specific type of nerd that likes criticizing movies for their realism, likes Marvin's humor, likes 9 ams and having to show up to every class, or just genuinely like astronomy. This class genuinely caused me more headaches than any of my core STEM classes, and if your just looking for something to full-fill the gen-ed, I would look elsewhere. Marvin is passionate and wants the best for you, this class just wasn't something I enjoyed. Thanks for listening to my rant :)
Marvin Jones ASTR230 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2024	Honestly, very nice professor and our TA was awesome. He definitely cared a lot about how you do in the course, and I don't just say that about everybody. The class meets four times a week, which is a bit much, but it gets better over time. I actually found the discussions to be a bit fun, so I didn't mind much. Three discussions and one lecture, all of which you must attend. 10% of your grade is lecture quizzes, which you do on the computer and you only need 50% to get full credit. 40% of your grade is discussion worksheets, which you do in groups on the computer and they're graded for "blood, sweat, and tears." There's really no reason you shouldn't be able to get full points in both of these categories. That 50% of your grade is basically given to you for free. The other 50%, you've got to work for. There are 5 units, the first four of which have tests, and the lowest one gets dropped. The tests make up 30% of your grade. The Unit 1 test (on Gravity) and the Unit 4 test (on Biology) are pretty simple. The Unit 3 test (Chemistry) is a bit more challenging. Unit 2 test (Flux), was, well, I'll just post the test medians here so you can see for yourself: Unit 1 - 81/100; Unit 2 - 57/100; Unit 3 - 78/100; Unit 4 - 77/100. Definitely some rough grades for a gened, so you're going to have to put in a bit of work. The exams really weren't that hard in my opinion, though (except for the Unit 2 exam, which I felt we didn't get nearly enough time for). Luckily, the lecture quizzes and the discussions are free points, and Professor Jones also gives you a review sheet before the exam with ~40 questions that you can work through. Around half of the questions on the exam are pulled from the review sheet. The other half of the questions are applying what you know, which can certainly be harder. The last 20% of your grade is a group project. You get the entire semester to work on it in your group. You basically have to design your own stellar system. You have to make it both plausible (consistent with calculations and science) and creative (not too much like our Solar System). You have to make a presentation on your stellar system, which is 15% of your project grade, and you have to write a paper on it, which is 85% of your project grade. If you don't wait until the last moment and check in with the TAs and/or Professor Jones if you have any questions, you'll be just fine. Another note is that this was the first semester that Professor Jones taught this course, and all things considered, it actually went quite smoothly. One important thing to note, though, is that despite being called "The Science and Fiction of Planetary Systems," this class is about 85% science and 15% fiction. The professor who taught this course previously had a lot of assigned sci-fi readings. Luckily, Professor Jones didn't have us do them, although you certainly could if you wanted to. Overall, I'm giving this a 4/5 stars. Very solid professor, very solid course. The tests are a bit on the harder side, so just make sure you don't procrastinate on studying, do the review questions, and go to office hours and ask questions. Professor Jones and the TAs definitely want you to succeed. This class is a very solid choice and you certainly can't go wrong with it.
Alan Peel ASTR230 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/03/2021	I really liked the content of his class. I learned a lot, and all of the content is interesting. Don't take him for an easy-A though (or even a medium-difficulty A), the exams are very difficult, mostly because they were basically impossible to study for. There was also very little time in class to finish the discussion assignments. A major component of the class was group work. It's a gamble whether you'll like Peel or not. Even depending on the time of day I either love him or hate him.
Alan Peel ASTR230 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/14/2020	Very likeable professor, puts a lovely brand of dry humor throughout lectures and discussions. The course itself is challenging in that there is almost always something imminent: discussion 3 times a week with a worksheet, working on the Group Project Solar System towards the end of semester, etc. Otherwise, the discussions are graded on how much effort you put into them. The first couple units are math units with the expectations of an English class: make a good enough case, provide the evidence of your thought process, and get corrected if you were wrong later. You will still receive the points, just make sure you know the real answers for the tests. Professor Peel always had a chat open during the discussion for questions, and was ALWAYS real with us. If there was an idea that didn't work out, or something in particular that he expected from us, he would tell us. He mentions things like "I see multiple groups doing this, that, -- please be aware that I am expecting you to know (something important)." Always respectful, in my experience. Also, use ratios. Always. The class is one long gauntlet of group work, so you better get along early or it will not be a good time. I was lucky enough to get a fantastic one where all of our members contributed and spoke up.
Alan Peel ASTR230 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/19/2020	The class takes a lot of time and can be pretty frustrating and inconvenient. Dr. Peel though is pretty knowledgeable and good at explaining things, and I thought pretty likeable as well. Pros: Interesting content if you are into this kinda stuff Makes you think about problems learn quite a bit no real hw Cons: 3 discussions a week early lecture group project readings clicker questions/attendance mandatory
Alan Peel ASTR230 Expecting a B Anonymous 06/04/2019	Dr. Peel is a professor who can be really chill one day, then totally rude and off another day. I had him for both astr 230 and 340 and both of those classes were quite a challenge with him as a lecturer. Do not get me wrong, he can be an effective professor but can come off as rude and material such as homework and exams can be rather tricky. In astro 230 the average on each exam was a 65, 58, 70, and 68. Which is actually much lower than astro 340 exams which were about 70 to 73 each. Saving grace for 230 was there was no final and there are alot of free points for discussion assignments and clickers. If you really like the material take him, if you are not adapt at the algebra and math of astronomy be advised.

Marvin Jones
ASTR230

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/19/2026

ASTR230 is NOT a class you want to take if you just need the gen-ed credit. There's a certain demographic of people that might like the class, and if after reading my cripes you like them, then surely take it. If you couldn't guess by my star rating, I unfortunately don't fit it. First of all, there are 3 discussions led by either Marvin or your TA, and a lecture by Marvin every week. Every class is mandatory, as there is an assignment you have to complete with your group every discussion, and with every lecture there is a quiz you have to do, each one worth 1% of your grade. So you can't skip unless you're cool with your grade tanking(though two discussion grades do get dropped). Maybe this is biased because I'm very much a night person, but the lectures at 9 am were a nightmare, and I don't think I could ever pay attention. He knew this, and so he did stuff to capture our attention that was annoying as hell. 9 in the morning and he'd make everyone do jumping jacks, clap our hands, say an alliteration, etc. I understand that he does this with good intention, but on many days it was literally hell to me. If the "fiction" part of the course sounds fu you, don't get excited. It's only about 10% of the class, but I genuinely dreaded it because of how insufferable of a lens we approached it through. He would put up movie clips, badass stuff like the moon crashing into the Earth or people driving through crashing buildings, but instead of it being cool for even 5 seconds, Marvin asked about what made things realistic versus not. And not to hate, but the type of people who answered and whose answers Marvin would praise... I wouldn't wish any of my enemies to watch a movie with them: "Well actually, if the moon were on a collision course with Earth, tidal forces would rip the crust apart long before impact" "The gravitational perturbations alone would destabilize Earth’s orbit and cause catastrophic mantle heating" "At that proximity the Roche limit would be exceeded and the moon would fragment before it ever hit” Stuff that's the literal definition of 🤓👆. Again, I don't mean to hate, these are obviously very smart observations with tons of prior knowledge brought into the course that I simply don't have. But when these are the people raising their hands, it doesn't really give me any desire to participate whatsoever. And no hate to my TA, they were definitely very knowledgable and put a lot of work in, but their voice was low and they often struggled to get everybody's attention after group conversations to continue presenting, especially when Marvin wasn't there as well. Course material and time commitment aside... it's a pretty hard-to-get A. The 4 tests were all abysmal: averages all in the 70s. Not just because the tests were hard, but also because the grading was very odd. There were questions that asked for multiple things at once, and missing one part could cost you the entire question, even if it was worth around 10% of the exam. The same thing happened with math: even if you got the correct numerical answer, you could still lose points for not showing the exact sequence of steps he wanted. For example, writing “70% of the radius” wasn’t enough; you were expected to explicitly write 7π/10π, show the π canceling, and then convert it to 70%, and skipping any of that cost you the entire question(10%!!!) even though the math was identical. There'll also be questions that ask something specific, but you can still lose points even if u answer the specific question because he arbitrarily wanted you to mention something else in the period that was very important. To be fair, I think he and the TAs became better about giving partial credit as the semester went on. The fourth (and easiest) exam, whichmany people skipped because your lowest exam score gets dropped (that’s actually a nice perk), was mostly memorization, and on that exam, they gave full credit for responses that earlier in the semester almost definitely would’ve been nitpicked. Totally random nitpick I have is that he ruined one of my favorite songs. He played the same jazz Youtube video every time we took our 9 am exam, and exactly at the point of the test where I'm screwed and start counting what percent I know I got right, there would be this jazz rendition of Diamonds by Rihanna. I'll never listen to the song the same again. The final project was probably the most fun thing in the class as you were allowed to be creative, make your own story of a journey to a galaxy, making up aliens and planets along the way and presenting it to the class. The only thing I didn't like about it was how you were allowed to be as fun as you wanted in the research paper, but in the presentation you were supposed to be deadpan serious about all the creative things you made. I actually heard one of the TAs saying the part they didn't like about our presentation was how it tried to be punny. Overall, this really isn't a class you want to take if you aren't the specific type of nerd that likes criticizing movies for their realism, likes Marvin's humor, likes 9 ams and having to show up to every class, or just genuinely like astronomy. This class genuinely caused me more headaches than any of my core STEM classes, and if your just looking for something to full-fill the gen-ed, I would look elsewhere. Marvin is passionate and wants the best for you, this class just wasn't something I enjoyed. Thanks for listening to my rant :)

Marvin Jones
ASTR230

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/13/2024

Honestly, very nice professor and our TA was awesome. He definitely cared a lot about how you do in the course, and I don't just say that about everybody. The class meets four times a week, which is a bit much, but it gets better over time. I actually found the discussions to be a bit fun, so I didn't mind much. Three discussions and one lecture, all of which you must attend. 10% of your grade is lecture quizzes, which you do on the computer and you only need 50% to get full credit. 40% of your grade is discussion worksheets, which you do in groups on the computer and they're graded for "blood, sweat, and tears." There's really no reason you shouldn't be able to get full points in both of these categories. That 50% of your grade is basically given to you for free. The other 50%, you've got to work for. There are 5 units, the first four of which have tests, and the lowest one gets dropped. The tests make up 30% of your grade. The Unit 1 test (on Gravity) and the Unit 4 test (on Biology) are pretty simple. The Unit 3 test (Chemistry) is a bit more challenging. Unit 2 test (Flux), was, well, I'll just post the test medians here so you can see for yourself: Unit 1 - 81/100; Unit 2 - 57/100; Unit 3 - 78/100; Unit 4 - 77/100. Definitely some rough grades for a gened, so you're going to have to put in a bit of work. The exams really weren't that hard in my opinion, though (except for the Unit 2 exam, which I felt we didn't get nearly enough time for). Luckily, the lecture quizzes and the discussions are free points, and Professor Jones also gives you a review sheet before the exam with ~40 questions that you can work through. Around half of the questions on the exam are pulled from the review sheet. The other half of the questions are applying what you know, which can certainly be harder. The last 20% of your grade is a group project. You get the entire semester to work on it in your group. You basically have to design your own stellar system. You have to make it both plausible (consistent with calculations and science) and creative (not too much like our Solar System). You have to make a presentation on your stellar system, which is 15% of your project grade, and you have to write a paper on it, which is 85% of your project grade. If you don't wait until the last moment and check in with the TAs and/or Professor Jones if you have any questions, you'll be just fine. Another note is that this was the first semester that Professor Jones taught this course, and all things considered, it actually went quite smoothly. One important thing to note, though, is that despite being called "The Science and Fiction of Planetary Systems," this class is about 85% science and 15% fiction. The professor who taught this course previously had a lot of assigned sci-fi readings. Luckily, Professor Jones didn't have us do them, although you certainly could if you wanted to. Overall, I'm giving this a 4/5 stars. Very solid professor, very solid course. The tests are a bit on the harder side, so just make sure you don't procrastinate on studying, do the review questions, and go to office hours and ask questions. Professor Jones and the TAs definitely want you to succeed. This class is a very solid choice and you certainly can't go wrong with it.

Alan Peel
ASTR230

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/03/2021

I really liked the content of his class. I learned a lot, and all of the content is interesting. Don't take him for an easy-A though (or even a medium-difficulty A), the exams are very difficult, mostly because they were basically impossible to study for. There was also very little time in class to finish the discussion assignments. A major component of the class was group work. It's a gamble whether you'll like Peel or not. Even depending on the time of day I either love him or hate him.

Alan Peel
ASTR230

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/14/2020

Very likeable professor, puts a lovely brand of dry humor throughout lectures and discussions. The course itself is challenging in that there is almost always something imminent: discussion 3 times a week with a worksheet, working on the Group Project Solar System towards the end of semester, etc. Otherwise, the discussions are graded on how much effort you put into them. The first couple units are math units with the expectations of an English class: make a good enough case, provide the evidence of your thought process, and get corrected if you were wrong later. You will still receive the points, just make sure you know the real answers for the tests. Professor Peel always had a chat open during the discussion for questions, and was ALWAYS real with us. If there was an idea that didn't work out, or something in particular that he expected from us, he would tell us. He mentions things like "I see multiple groups doing this, that, -- please be aware that I am expecting you to know (something important)." Always respectful, in my experience. Also, use ratios. Always. The class is one long gauntlet of group work, so you better get along early or it will not be a good time. I was lucky enough to get a fantastic one where all of our members contributed and spoke up.

Alan Peel
ASTR230

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/19/2020

The class takes a lot of time and can be pretty frustrating and inconvenient. Dr. Peel though is pretty knowledgeable and good at explaining things, and I thought pretty likeable as well. Pros: Interesting content if you are into this kinda stuff Makes you think about problems learn quite a bit no real hw Cons: 3 discussions a week early lecture group project readings clicker questions/attendance mandatory

Alan Peel
ASTR230

Expecting a B
Anonymous
06/04/2019

Dr. Peel is a professor who can be really chill one day, then totally rude and off another day. I had him for both astr 230 and 340 and both of those classes were quite a challenge with him as a lecturer. Do not get me wrong, he can be an effective professor but can come off as rude and material such as homework and exams can be rather tricky. In astro 230 the average on each exam was a 65, 58, 70, and 68. Which is actually much lower than astro 340 exams which were about 70 to 73 each. Saving grace for 230 was there was no final and there are alot of free points for discussion assignments and clickers. If you really like the material take him, if you are not adapt at the algebra and math of astronomy be advised.

Reviews for ASTR230